Tag: Preston

If something happens very rarely you might say it occurs only once in a blue moon. But if you find yourself in a certain corner of northern England, someone might say such an event happens once in a Preston Guild.

Lancashire folk have a certain way with words, but in this case they are being literal. The Preston Guild only happens once every 20 years and is thus a fitting analogy for the rarest of rare things. So if you want to see something made special by its rarity, make your way to Preston because 2012 is a Guild year, and Preston aims to take its place amidst the national Jubilympic celebrations.

If something happens very infrequently you may here it referred to as being ‘once in a blue moon’. In Lancashire, ‘appen tha’ll say ‘once in a Preston Guild’. The Preston Guild is celebrated enough to become part of the language but celebrated so infrequently to become a byword for rare events.

So what is the Preston Guild? And why is celebrated only once every twenty years?

The Preston Guild dates back to 1179 and is the only such ceremony still celebrated in the UK. In 1179, Henry II granted Preston the right to have a Guild Merchant. The Guild controlled the town’s craftsmen, the right to trade in the town and the town’s marketplace. Membership of the Guild was for life, and the membership rolls were updated infrequently.